The 2024 Vibe Shift: 3 Cultural Shifts to Look Out for, and What Brands Can Do

Did you feel that? That’s a huge vibe shift in the US. There usually is after an election, with half the country in elation and the other half in despair. But this year, it’s particularly evident. Trump cabinet picks are rolling in and grabbing headlines. Speculation on policy changes are rampant.

But what I’m interested in today are what cultural shifts we’ll be seeing in the next few years. Thomas Wolfe, the cultural observer who wrote Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in the 1960s and Bonfire of the Vanities in the 1980s, called the 1970s the “Me Decade.” This was a move from the collective activism of the 1960s toward a more individualistic landscape. New age philosophies, personal development trends, and a growing introspection set the stage for the unapologetic materialism of the 1980s. We went from challenging societal structures to celebrating personal ambition, from community organizing to individual reinvention.

We’ll be seeing a similar shift, from the late teens and early 2020s of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and other pushes for social progress to something else. Here are three shifts to look out for.

A shift away from traditional media and a dominant narrative
In the final stretch of the election, we saw a flurry of activity to get on news shows. But I’m not talking about the big news shows, with well-coiffed interviewers asking pre-scripted questions. I’m talking Trump’s famed tour of the bro podcast network and Kamala’s Call Me Daddy interview. In marketing, we encourage our clients to go where their consumers are, and that’s what both campaigns did, stretching outside of the authority of news networks and into corners of the internet. Both campaigns also invited news influencers alongside traditional press to their conventions.

This shift to influencers over traditional news sources also reflects the fractured reality landscape. There is no more agreed-upon reality, as different outlets skew news towards their view point.

A shift away from traditional institutions
My agency, McKinney, did some research on people’s perceptions today, and found a state of perma-swirl, where expectations of certainty are out the window, and the idea of going ‘back to normal’ is no longer on the horizon.

Part of this is the erosion of institutions. In this topsy-turvy world, Kamala as the more progressive candidate stood for old institutions—the rule of law, the conventions that uphold our system of government, the gilded resume. Although her journey to the candidacy was anything but typical, she represented the traditional path to power through the political machine. The more conservative candidate, on the other hand, is busy nominating cabinet picks that have been more vetted by TV ratings and loyalty tests than by expertise or experience. Crypto is back on the scene, betting markets had more predictive power than polls, and many of the government institutions are under threat.

A shift towards traditional gender roles
The widening gap between women and men’s political leaning was on full display over this election cycle, and the choice between an older white man espousing regressive gender roles and the first woman of color VP couldn’t have been more symbolic.

Trump's narrow victory isn't just a political outcome—it's a complex cultural signal. The gender dynamics at play transcend simple electoral mathematics, reflecting deeper societal tensions and transformations. We're witnessing a moment where gender identity, political representation, and cultural expectations are colliding in real-time.

For brands, there’s a few ways to play this.

• Recognize the shift in authority in the media landscape. The erosion of traditional media and the rise of YouTubers, influencers, and podcasters isn’t new, but this election cycle did more than anything to legitimize a new media source. and a way to build credibility with smaller communities. Think about which communities you want to reach, and then find the sources they trust.

• Embrace a little chaos. The brands that'll win are the ones that can surf the wave of cultural unpredictability, that find insight in the behaviors and shifts, and serve up a little unpredictability of their own.

• On the flip side, appeal to symbols of tradition. In the US, the resurgence of country music, the return of brands like Levi’s, and the rising popularity of trad wives demonstrates that the reversion of traditional Americana isn’t just in politics.

• Maintain the power of communicating to diverse audiences. Women are still often the decision-makers in many households, the US is still over 40% non-white, and there continues to be power in recognizing the real experiences of so many different cohorts. Your brand doesn't just need to acknowledge this—it needs to speak these languages fluently to connect with a culture that’s increasingly fragmented.